Ma Xiaoer continued: "I had a full meal, and the next day, after the coffin was packed with the dead, it was sealed in the car, and the Zhou family gave me a coil and a letter, telling me that this letter is very important and cannot be opened, in fact, it doesn't matter to me whether it is opened or not, I am illiterate at all, my father and mother are also illiterate, and the names are all given according to the customs of the countryside, my brother is called Ma Laoda, my name is Ma Xiaoer, and my younger brother is called Ma Xiaosan, poor my parents, brother and the third brother are starving to death on the way to ask for food. The housekeeper of the Zhou family told me that the deceased's name was Chunqiao, and gave me a detailed address.

After sealing the coffin, he sent me some money to buy the road, and asked me to scatter the money all the way, and shout on the road across the ditch and bridge. After I got it, I scattered a few pieces of paper money and shouted: "Chunqiao, it's on the road, look at the dots when you cross the street and cross the bridge, don't bump into it." ”

Chunqiao's hometown, more than 70 miles away from Zhoujiazhuang, relying on people to pull the cart for a day will definitely not be able to arrive, I don't understand that the Zhou family has mules and horses, why don't you use a carriage, is it really because Chunqiao is a subordinate, and he lost the identity of the Zhou family with a carriage? Everyone's affairs are not something that we ordinary people can figure out. The sun is like fire, I pull the car and sweat like rain, this weather is really hot to walk, it would be nice if there was a place to take a bath, what a coincidence, what you want to come, there is a clear pond in front, here is a wild land, no one in the four places, I think there is no set day to go to Chunqiao's hometown anyway, go early and go late, it doesn't matter. So he put Chunqiao's coffin under the shade of a tree, and then bowed to the coffin in a regular manner, and said to Chunqiao in the coffin: "Sister Chunqiao, walking in the sun is like fire, I'm too hot, you have walked this way, it must be hot, you rest here first, I'll take a bath, and I'll leave in a while." ”

After I finished speaking, I went to the pond, took off my clothes, and got into the pond, the water in the pond was cool, it was really comfortable in the water, I could swim since I was a child, and I swam in the water very happily, and I had been washing for more than half an hour, my hands and feet were soaked white, and I saw that the sky was already cloudy, as if it was going to rain, and I thought that if it rained, the road would be muddy, and the road in the countryside was mostly muddy, so I would definitely not be able to walk, so I had to take advantage of the morning to go ashore, and quickly find a village to shelter from the rain.

So I hurried to the shore, and at that moment, I felt a chill beside me, as if something was swimming towards me, and the thing was covered in cold air that went straight into the bones of the person. I know things are not good, I must have met a drowned ghost looking for a stand-in.

I grew up on the water's edge, and people often drowned in the river, and I knew that after people drowned, they were very resentful, and they couldn't go to the underworld to reincarnate, so they would wait for the stand-in in the water, and only by pulling the stand-in into the water and drowning could they reincarnate.

At this moment, there seemed to be something wrapped around my feet, like aquatic plants, but not very similar, those things were very thin, and they were softly wrapped around my feet, like hair, and I couldn't help but feel creepy when I thought of hair, and in this wilderness, hair appeared in the water, and I didn't have to think about it to know what hair was, so I quickly swam around, and it was safe only when I got to the shore. But it didn't go as I wanted, and the silky hair on my feet became tighter and tighter, and dragged me all the way down the water.

I took a sharp breath, opened my eyes in the water, and when I looked down, I found that it was a ball of hair that was dragging my legs, and that the ball of hair was wrapped around my legs, and under the hair was a person, and the person's face was already soaked and I couldn't see my facial features, but I knew that she was a woman, because she had long hair and was wearing a red dress, which was like blood, floating underwater.

I wanted to catch my breath, and if I didn't, it wouldn't take me long in the water before I drowned. But my strength was not as strong as that of the ghost in the water, and she pulled me deeper and deeper, and I choked on a few mouthfuls of water, and slowly softened, and I knew that I was about to drown. The female ghost's hair loosened my feet and neck, and I was overjoyed, I was really in a desperate situation, and I used all my strength to dive up. Then I suddenly felt a chill on the top of my head, and a lot of black hair appeared on it for no apparent reason. At that time, I was shocked, and when I looked up, I knew that I was going to die this time, and at some point, the water ghost swam to the top of my head, and I looked up, and the face without facial features came to the opposite face.

It was a very ugly face, almost soaked and could not rise anymore, the flesh on the face, fluttering with the water, I had to quickly swim to the side, but at this time, the hair of the female water ghost, getting longer and longer, those hairs were like snakes, slowly wrapped around my neck, more and more tight, and the female water ghost was getting closer and closer to me, and then my whole person, and the female water ghost came face to face, I was not afraid at this time, because if this continues, sooner or later I will die. When I felt that I was about to die, a white shadow suddenly appeared in the water, and the white shadow was getting closer and closer, and I could see clearly, there was another female water ghost.

One is also dead, two are also dead, I don't care about one more, then a strange thing happened, the female water ghost in red, when she saw the water ghost in white coming, she immediately let go of her hair and swam into the distance, and the water ghost in white grabbed my hand and pulled me up, until I reached the shore, I used all my strength, climbed to the shore and passed out, and when I woke up, it was already evening, and I couldn't say that I was not happy to escape from death, I got up from the ground, and then another thing happened that surprised me, I saw the cart pulling the coffin, and when it reached the water's edge, the coffin was also submerged in the water.

It's strange, how did this coffin, which I remember placed in the shade of a tree, run into the water on its own? Could it be that the coffin is walking by itself, I was scared for a while when I thought of this, so I quickly straightened the coffin, and then pulled the cart and left, I don't know what's going on, the cart is obviously much heavier than just now, what's going on? I thought to myself, so I looked back at the cart, and saw the coffin on the cart, dripping water, and the water was dripping through the small hole in the coffin.

I have been with the shopkeeper for three years, that is, to make coffins, and in each of the coffins we made, there is a small hole left, and that small hole is specially reserved for the soul of the deceased to enter and exit the coffin. I think this coffin must have been soaked in water just now, this coffin that was not buried was soaked in water, which is not a good thing, if it is known by the master's family, let alone give money, maybe you have to beat it, what can I do?

I stopped to figure out what to do, and finally I decided to open the coffin and see how much water was inside? It is best to clear the water out, so that the deceased in the coffin does not sleep in the water, this is also the respect for the deceased, thinking of this, I put the cart, find a flat place to put it, and then find three incense, after lighting it, said to Chunqiao in the coffin: "Sister Chunqiao is not that I Ma Xiaoer wants to see the appearance of the eldest sister, but I am afraid that the eldest sister will sleep in the water and her soul is unstable, if you agree with me to open the coffin, you don't speak, if you don't agree, you can say it inside." ”

I thought, can a dead man speak? I waited for a while and said, "Sister Chunqiao, if you don't speak, that is, you have agreed, and I will open the coffin for you. ”

As I spoke, I pushed the coffin lid vigorously, this coffin lid was not approved by their family, and the coffin could not be nailed, plus Chunqiao's coffin was not very big, although it was a good wood, I could barely push it. Squeak, the coffin was half opened, I looked into the coffin, I was stunned, the woman sleeping in the coffin, really good-looking, curved eyebrows, closed eyes, long eyelashes sticking out of the eyes, slightly open small mouth, as if to speak, except that the face was paler than ordinary people, there was no difference, suddenly I found that something was wrong. ”